The present invention relates to an equipment rail and bracket assembly, and more particularly, an equipment rail and bracket assembly for a cabinet.
FIGS. 1-8 illustrate an equipment rail and bracket assembly 100, such as Panduit's Equipment Rail and Bracket Assembly (e.g., Part. No S75RC), according to the prior art.
As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the equipment rail and bracket assembly 100 includes an equipment rail 110 and a pair of bracket assemblies 120. Each of the bracket assemblies 120 includes a bracket 121, a clamp 122, and a plurality of fasteners 123 for mounting the equipment rail 110 to the bracket 121 and the bracket 121 to the clamp 122. The equipment rail 110 includes a plurality of bracket mounting openings 111 for receiving the fasteners 123 to mount the equipment rail 110 to the bracket 121. Additionally, the equipment rail 110 includes a plurality of equipment mounting openings 112 for receiving fasteners (not shown), such as cage nuts, to mount equipment (not shown), such as servers and switches, to the equipment rail 110.
As shown in FIGS. 4-6, the equipment rail and bracket assembly 100 is mounted to a cabinet 10, such as Panduit's Net-SERV™ Cabinet (e.g., Part No. S752C122B). The cabinet 10 includes 4 posts 11, 4 front-to-back beams 12, and 4 side-to-side beams 13, which are welded together at respective corners.
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the cabinet 10 is assembled, the front-to-back beams 12 are oriented at slight angles with respect to the posts 11. Consequently, when the equipment rail and bracket assembly 100 is mounted to the cabinet 10, the orientation of the front-to-back beams 12 causes the equipment rail 110 to bow, which is particularly undesirable when mounting equipment of a fixed width.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved equipment rail and bracket assembly for a cabinet.